around the farm

the fava beans are as tall as me, the peas and potatoes are as tall as quinn, and the popcorn was knee-high by the fourth of july (quinn’s knees, that is.)

"look at that captain and crew of peas in there!"

i’m pretending it’s tabbouleh season already; my garden is ready to provide the parsley, my csa box has been supplying cucumbers, and i fork over the $4 for a pint of cherry tomatoes from the only grower in town who has ripe ones. we have been eating so frugally that occasionally i allow myself such indulgences.

speaking of indulging, it feels like i am, when i pile so many edible flowers into a salad bowl that it’s not even about presentation anymore. ahhh, edible flower season: calendula petals, borage, nasturtium, arugula flowers, red clover. maybe more varieties buried underneath…

a steller’s jay left me a feather the other day and i stuck it in the middle of the blue pot pictured above. jays rule fertility, and since i am not in the market for more kids, i would like to apply 100% of the jay medicine coming my way to the garden, thank you very much. the cloud people have been sending us rain for three nights straight, though the days are lusciously sunny.

my asparagus seeds sprouted! hurray for my asparagus plantation (which will be opening in three years.)

melons in the cold frame, and me wearing my summer look: a tank top and funky hair wispies.

more random garden goodness: i’m having fun pairing up companion plants and making up polycultures here and there throughout the garden. quinn planted some brussels sprouts in a hanging basket. because, well, you know. he’s in charge of harvesting strawberries, and he is showing incredible restraint, i think, for a four year old (we have 8 plants in pots). i spent the wetter morning hours yesterday messing about in the cold frame (where it was dry) and moving out starts that needed planting, making space for two of quinn’s canteloupes. i’ll be so happy if he gets even one tiny melon out of them… then while he spent the evening with dada, i took two trays of starts to the community garden to plant the fall stuff. i harvested lots and lots of spicy greens, which seem to grow well (arugula, mustard, cress, etc.) and then i popped in a bunch of broccoli, kale, chard, leeks, and some dill, as well as adding lime to the soil, which i am beginning to suspect the beds need, in spite of my pH meter at the lab giving me neutral readings for all the soil samples i’ve tested. we shall see how that experiment goes.

6 comments to around the farm

1) asparagus SEEDS? Really? Can you do that? And in 3 years, harvestable production?

2) Your fava beans are gorgeous!

3) Dan is very partial to stellar's jay feathers and always picks them up when he finds them, something about hunting luck I believe. (and yes, all fertility to the garden please).6512 and growing recently posted..mountain dreaming

well, i don't know that the asparagus will be harvestable in three years, but i've heard it is a minimum of 3 before you should take anything, or maybe even before anything looks like taking. i'm not sure! but i can't afford to spend much on my garden and saw 50 seeds for 3 bucks on ebay, and they sprouted… fingers crossed i have somewhere to put them between now and three years from now…

I read about asparagus recently. Three years sounds about right. I think it takes that long to develop a good root system or something. I just remember reading that they prefer sandy soil and we have clay. 🙁

So how do you eat flowers? Just raw? I don't think I've ever eaten any, but we're going to plant some calendula. So far we've got tomatoes and beans growing, one pepper and one butternut, some pumpkins, and all our fruit we planted three years ago are starting to take off: cherries, blueberries, raspberries, grapes.Lisa C recently posted..Naturopath, take #3

so far i've only eaten flowers raw- on salads. they make the salads so pretty and festive! the borage flowers taste a bit like cucumbers, while nasturtium flowers have a sweet taste with a spicy kick after taste. calendula and clover are more subtle in my opinion, but full of wonderful beneficial qualities. it's fun to eat so much color. 🙂 your garden sounds like it is coming along nicely- the fruit is such an amazing investment, it will keep giving and giving to you for years to come. 🙂

The house we just moved in to has vegetables growing already. It feels like a gift. There's celery, really yummy spinach, snow peas, lettuce, herbs, spring onions, waragul greens and more. There's even a big frame thing with what I think is raspberries growing on it. I can't wait to spend some real time out there when all this moving business is done.tinsenpup recently posted..The Mandatory ‘Why I Blog’ Post